White Sox: Carlos Rodon Leads Team to Series Victory Over Indians

White Sox young hurler pitches eight scorless innings, records 11 strikeouts against division leading Cleveland Indians. White Sox win first series of season at Progressive Field.

The Chicago White Sox were able to win its final road series of the season with a 3-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. Carlos Rodon lead the Sox to victory with his best performance of the season at Progressive Field.

Rodon pitched eight scoreless innings against the Indians, and recorded 11 strikeouts. His 11 strikeouts tied a career-high which he set on Aug. 17, 2015 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The second-year pitcher needed this outing as he was coming off a short outing in his previous start against the Royals.

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After pitching just four innings against the Royals on Sept. 19, Rodon pitched eight scoreless innings against a Cleveland team vying for a division championship. The Sox had other plans however. The Indians will have to wait for at least one more game before they can celebrate a division championship.

The Sox offense wasn’t as explosive as Saturday, but they score runs when they needed to thanks to Carlos Sanchez. The young utility player had two RBI’s on Sunday. Sanchez hit a RBI single in the fifth inning to put the Sox ahead 1-0. In the seventh inning, Sanchez extended the Sox lead to 2-0 with a sacrifice fly. Omar Narvaez would give the Sox an insurance run in the ninth inning with a RBI single to extend the lead 3-0.

Rodon had a no-hitter through four innings when he gave up a hit to Brandon Guyer with no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. This would lead to one of the few threats made by the Indians. After walking Coco Crisp, Chris Gimenez hit a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third base. However, the Indians couldn’t push a run across the plate as Michael Martinez flew out and Rajai Davis struck out to end the fifth inning.

The Indians would put up a minor threat in the seventh inning, but Rodon was able to leave Carlos Santana stranded at first base after he started the inning with a single. Rodon struck out the side in the eighth inning to leave the game in line for his eighth victory of the season. David Robertson sealed the victory for Rodon and the Sox with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth inning.

The win for the Sox improved the team’s record to 74-81. Rodon is now 8-10 after the win, with a 4.08 ERA. The Sox will begin its final homestand of the season on Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Sox will face the Rays in a four game series before concluding the season with a three game series against the Twins.